Wine Competitions for the Amateur Winemaker

So, you have been making wine at home for a few years now. Your family and friends have consistently been impressed with what you have been producing from your wine kit and now you want to take it to the next level. The next step might just be entering a wine competition

Wine enthusiasts know that making wine is a social hobby. They love to get together, make wine, talk about wine and certainly drink the wine. With the popularity of wine kits increasing, wine competitions for amateurs are also increasing. Between local, state and national contests, there is ample opportunity to see how your wines stack up against your fellow winemakers.

Many winemakers like to take their carefully nurtured product and begin with local competitions. It’s a learning opportunity often started by former home winemakers who understand the importance of exchanging information and experience. Information about local competitions is plentiful via the internet as well as through local wine clubs. Most state fairs host wine competitions for amateurs and many consider that a good choice to enter their homemade wines. Because wine kits are more sophisticated and the level of home produced wines has grown tremendously in the past several years, these competitions are not considered local Mom and Pop contests anymore, but rather prestigious events where garnering a ribbon is a well deserved bragging right.

Competitions on the national scale are not just for the professional wineries anymore. One of the more popular wine competitions for the amateur is sponsored by The American Wine Society. Members live in 48 states with over 120 chapters throughout the country. They hold an annual Wine Competition for Amateurs where trained judges apply the same techniques for commercial wine competitions. As an added bonus, score sheets are returned to the winemaker for valuable feedback. For many, this is all that is needed: a professional opinion of their homemade wine.

Entry forms vary with each competition and the cost is usually minimal. Categories also differ but usually they include: Dry Fruit, Sweet Fruit, Dry Berry, Sweet Berry, White Vinifera, White Non-Vinifera, Red Vinifera, Red Non-Vinifera and Specialty which is a category that includes wine not found in any of the above groups. Often, there is a limit of entries, so do not wait and try and enter at the last minute. Wines are typically grouped by category and judged by color, clarity, smell and finally taste. Most judges prefer not to know what wine is being judged so that everyone is interested in the final result.

While winning is always nice, it’s not the main reason home winemakers enter contests. The majority of amateurs feel it is important to see if they are on the right track and if they are improving. It also serves as a valuable feedback for constructive criticism.

Creating that first wine with your just purchased wine kit, to entering a wine competition may seem like years away but if winemaking is taken seriously, it’s a good idea to test the waters, or in this case, test the wines.